US Should Continue To Hold Talk With North Korea on Denuclearization Issue

Recently, US special representative to North Korea Stephen Bosworth went to Pyongyang to engage talks with Pyongyang officials. It was the US intention for North Korea to return to the Six-Party Nuclear Weapon Negotiation talks. Before Bosworth's visit, Pyongyang has already sounded out that the condition for North Korea to return to the Six Party nuclear talks would depend to a great extend on the outcome of the direct talk between Pyongyang and Washington officials. In other words, if Bosworth's visit to Pyongyang did not reach any breakthrough, it would be difficult for North Korea to return to the Six Party negotiation table.
In fact, Pyongyang has long expressed the hope that through direct talk with US officials, North Korea and the United States could establish friendly ties for example, to change the Korean Armistice Agreement into a peace agreement, to normalize the US-North Korea diplomatic ties, and ensure North Korea's peace and safety, among other issues. However, Washington has reacted to a series of Pyongyang's peaceful gesture coolly. If the only thought in the mind of the United States is to get rid of all the nuclear weapons and missile heads of North Korea but nothing else, how can this be possible for North Korea to accept?

Weapons for National and Self-Defense
From Asian perspective, there are valid reasons of why North Korea would want to process nuclear weapons. Pyongyang national leader Kim Jong-il has repeatedly reiterated and mentioned earlier that North Korea would need to develop nuclear weapons for national and self-defense. When North Korean Vice Foreign Affairs Minister Pak Gil Yon spoke at the UN General Assembly recently, he has made clear that the Korean Peninsula denuclearization goal would have to depend on whether the United States would change its nuclear weapon policy toward North Korea. Pak Gil Yon stressed that if the United States was unwilling to change its nuclear weapon policy toward North Korea, then North Korea would have to depend on developing reliable nuclear weapon power to ensure the region's nuclear weapon balance and to help maintain Northeast Asia's peace and stability.
It seems to us that there is not very much different between President Obama's North Korean policy and former US President Bush's North Korean policy. Washington only wants to pressure Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapon development plan but it is unwilling to propose an alternative peace plan for North Korea. It will be difficult for North Korea to give up its nuclear research activities if the United States continues to carry out political subversion on the Pyongyang leadership. The United States has continued to impose economic sanction on North Korea and strengthened its military cooperation with South Korea. The United States has also promised "nuclear umbrella" to protect Japan and South Korea. When North Korea is constantly under security threat from its neighbors, we cannot expect North Korea to give up its nuclear weapon development plan for self-defense.

North Korea Negative Impression
In the past years, the Six Party Nuclear Weapon talks have only given North Korea negative impression. For example, when North Korea has taken positive step to freeze and seal off its Ongbyon nuclear facilities, to explode its cooling tower and to allow the IAEA to send inspection team to monitor its action, the United States did not respond to North Korea's positive gesture with corresponding positive measures. During that critical period, the US government then still did not want to give up its hostile attitude toward North Korea. In retrospect, we feel that all these cooperative gesture taken by North Korea during that critical period has indicated the genuine intention of the Pyongyang leadership in wanting to abandon its nuclear facilities in order to exchange for peace, security and economic development for North Korea.
Unfortunately, during this most critical moment, instead of giving North Korea a more friendly hand, the United States did not want to give up its stiff nuclear weapon policy toward North Korea. They insisted on wanting to investigate North Korea's nuclear facilities thoroughly. The United States has also tried to interfere with North Korea's internal affairs. All these unfriendly action taken by the United States then annoyed the Pyongyang leadership. This has led to North Korea changing its mind by taking an aggressive stance to carry missile tests and withdrawing totally from the Six Party Nuclear Weapon talks. It was most unfortunate that when Six Party talks have achieved considerable achievement, the negative attitude of the United States toward North Korea during critical period has wasted all the cumulative effort taken by the Six Party team in trying to bring North Korea back to the normal international arena.

US Nuclear Weapon Strategy
If the US nuclear weapon negotiation team or the US representatives assigned to engage talks with North Korea continue to insist on using the same old US nuclear weapon strategy to engage talks with North Korea without showing interest to explore out outside factors, it will be difficult for both sides to achieve any consensus.
United States single-handedly created the North Korean nuclear weapon crisis. The United States should bear the responsibility to resolve the nuclear weapon crisis that looms over the Asian sky. It is thus most appropriate for the United States to deal with North Korea directly. The United States should prepare to take a different approach to handle North Korea. The United States should establish diplomatic relations with North Korea to ensure North Korea's peace and security.
The long-term US confrontation attitude toward North Korea can only make the Pyongyang leadership feels that North Korea will have to "surrender" to United States if it gives up its nuclear weapons and missile heads. Such a sentiment will be difficult for the Pyongyang leadership to accept. If President Obama wants North Korea to return to the Six Party Nuclear Weapon Negotiation talk, he should ask his special envoy to North Korea to come out with constructive proposal to create a peaceful and friendly atmosphere in order to reap reward toward achieving the denuclearization plan in the Korean Peninsula.